Business

Can prison farming be profitable? The case of Arizona Correctional Industries

Article Abstract:

The issue of whether prison farming is profitable is explained through an analysis of the case of the Arizona Correctional Industries (ACI)'s hog operation. The prison farm's hog operation is found to be profitable in a farm sense, although ACI's statement of operations indicated that it was operating at a loss. The discrepancy is traced to standard correctional system accounting methods which do not report the cash performance of a correctional agribusiness venture.

Cattle buyers follow strategic purchasing methods because they are fully aware that buyer behavior and timing influence the pricing of individual lots of cattle as revealed in a feeder cattle video auction. The study revealed that buyer concentration by sex and weight is highest for heavy steers with close to half being purchased by large buyers who generally do most of the purchasing at the start of an auction and declines as the auction progresses.